The CH-47B was introduced by Boeing after a production run of 355 CH-47A's, including 2 airframes that never actually flew ( 59-04982 and airframe B-006). The hot mountainous conditions of Vietnam limited the A models performance capabilities and generated a requirement for increased. payload and better performance.
2 Ain’t no mountain high enough. Aircraft performance changes in hot and high conditions, and the Chinook is no exception. But what it can still do for operators in such an environment is particularly impressive. The US Army explains that for intra-theater payload transport in hot/high areas, the aircraft’s payload maxes out at 16,000 lb Vf8u.